I discovered that I’m back down to my elementary school weight of between 145 and 150 pounds. Yes, I was 145 pounds in elementary school. And barely five feet tall. There aren’t many pictures me between first grade and that whole puberty thing. It held steady after I grew into my weight but I had been creeping toward 200 up until last year. I had told Fred that I would start going to gym with him when those pants fit and I nearly had to keep my word. A combo of cooking my own food, walking more since I live in Richmond and not being able to eat solid foods for about a month got me down to about 148. It probably won’t last long since I haven’t taken a true walk in the city since moving out of Forest Hill. I’ve also been too lazy to go grocery shopping lately, which has led to living off doughnuts, ice cream and Hardee’s for about two weeks (the Hardee’s is the result of it being the closest fast food place to work).
My mom bought a Wii. She says it’s for the grandkids but she played Wii Sports for a very long time Friday[?] I’ve lost track of time since I have been off work since about noon Wednesday and this 4.5-day weekend has been the longest stretch I haven’t worked that didn’t involve burying my grandmother since January 2008. You have no idea how amazing I feel to be away from work for so long. I have to get back to the grind Sunday afternoon but I’m more ready for it.
Thanksgiving was fucking delicious. I ate four plates at dinner, hence me probably regaining all of the weight I’ve lost in the past year in short order. I baked a cake. I usually don’t eat cake. There isn’t much cake left. That spice cake with coconut pecan icing was the best cake I have ever had. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if I put rum in it. A lot of rum.
I tried to take a new picture of the Interstate 664 viaduct for the fifth anniversary of this site. I even had the good camera with me. The only problem was that, to get the original shot, I had to park my car a few blocks away and walk. That’s a piece of cake with a point-and-shoot and, although it’s on the border between the bad part of Newport News and the worst part of Newport News, I wasn’t that afraid at the time. Either Hampton Roads has gotten more sketch or I’ve gotten more paranoid. I was more uncomfortable with my surroundings at home than I ever am in Richmond. I felt like a sitting duck with that SLR. I forgot to adjust the ISO and shutter speed. It wasn’t in focus. I was flawless in where I was standing (it nearly matched where I was in the original photo. If I was calmer, the shot would have been nailed. There are a few things wrong with the original photo that I’ve always wanted to fix. If you remember how the header looked over the years, it took having Photoshop and major surgery to get it to look decent.
I went to Marker 20 and the Taphouse in downtown Hampton Friday night. Two of my groups of friends showed up and they clashed. It wasn’t horrible but they clashed. I also saw a few people from high school I haven’t seen in years. Some of them for good reason. That always happens when I go downtown after dark. You can tell which ones didn’t leave the city after graduating. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that but, after the spell Hampton had on me finally broke this year, I always wonder why on earth anyone would still want to be there. I met someone from Hampton Saturday night and we talked about things from the past. Yeah, it was fun growing up but then you grow up. I guess it depends on what your friends do. I have next to no one to hang out with when I stay on the Peninsula and my brothers are out of town. It’s still so weird because I grew up there and went to college 10 miles away and hated central Virginia SO MUCH when I first got here.
My mom is getting increasingly serious about moving yet again. She goes through a cycle of that every now and then. She’ll be 60 next year, though and has noticed that she can’t really run up the stairs like she used to. She’s afraid that the stairs are going to be a problem soon. I’m not looking forward to going through all the stuff to see what should be kept or trashed, especially in my old bedroom. I got rid of the stuff that didn’t belong to me in there a couple years ago but now there’s the crap that does that I either didn’t feel like taking to Richmond or don’t need but didn’t throw away for whatever reason. Overall, there is nearly 40 years of junk in that house. No bueno.
I still can’t believe that I drove around nearly the entire city and didn’t really miss it. I have a little over 22 years of memories in 23669 and 23606 combined. Seeing a Hampton city limits sign used to be exciting for me. I guess it’s because I know the Hampton I know and remember is gone. Blaine, Firth, Leah, Falyn, Jim and I aren’t going to hang out in the former Radisson parking garage anymore. Mandy and I aren’t going to loiter at the Willow Oaks Shopping Center. I’m not spending all of Saturday morning and afternoon wandering around with my mom. I’m not camping out at Grandview or wandering around Coliseum Mall or running around Gosnold’s Hope Park or commenting on how poorly Gosnold Hall smells or drinking illegally in Barclay or having hungover Plaza Azteca or galloping across the Great Lawn banging two halves of a coconut together. But I have continuity. I can ride up to DC and hang out with friends from as far back as elementary school. I can play Scrabble with someone in Kansas. I can go 200 feet downhill to find that a chunk of my fraternity and my friends nearly taking over a bar.
Driving past those places of my youth reminded me why I have everyone I do and that I don’t need to go back there to have them. Yeah, you lose people along the way but we can’t expect things to last forever
You can’t go home again.
Why would anyone want to?
